NEW DIRECTIONS
Saxophonist among artists finding different paths
David McMurray has never considered himself a Deadhead — at least not in the tie-dyed, twirl-dancing fashion of the Grateful Dead’s biggest fans.
But the Detroit saxophonist and Cranbrook Academy alumnus has enough of an appreciation for, and curiosity about, the group's music to immerse himself on “Grateful Deadication,” his second album for the legendary Blue Note label.
“I knew their hits, all the old songs, but I didn't really know a lot about them,” says McMurray, 65, who in addition to leading his own bands was also a member of Was (Not Was), served as musical director for KEM and spent several years with the late French singer Johnny Hallyday. McMurray's résumé also includes playing on albums by the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Patti Smith, Bonnie Raitt, Iggy Pop, B.B. King, Bob James and many more.
“I knew (the Dead) had some cool sax players, though. I always thought it was interesting they'd go after Ornette Coleman or Branford (Marsalis) as opposed to Clarence Clemons. I thought, ‘These guys have something going on. I should check it out.'”
McMurray's real Dead gateway came during the 2018 Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, when he was part of an all-star band put together by longtime friend and Was (Not Was) co-founder Don Was, now president of Blue Note Records. The Dead's Bob Weir made a guest appearance during the set, playing the Dead's “Days Between” with the ensemble.
“It was incredible,” recalls McMurray, who subsequently sat in with the Weir's Wolf Bros., which also includes Was on bass. “It was long form, with odd (musical) measures. I didn't know they did all that. It was really cool, and (the song) was really hypnotic. I was like, ‘I've got to visit that more, see what they're doing.' So I started listening to the songs. I took a minute, but after awhile I was like, ‘Oh, I get it! It's like Miles Davis or something.' Everything kind of fell into place.”
The Dead decision came as something of a surprise to McMurray's jazz fans, as well as to band members Ibrahim Jones (bass) and Jeff Canady (drums). Recording for the set — which comes out Friday, July 16 — started pre-pandemic, with “Dark Star,” one of the most iconic and malleable live tracks in the Dead catalog.
“They've got a million versions,” McMurray notes, “so I was listening to a lot of them and then went back to the original single version (from 1968). It was funny watching the band, how they got the magic of it. We went to the studio and did it, and when we got it everyone was like, ‘Wow, wait a minute. That sounds good!' And it just snowballed from there.”
McMurray filled out the “Grateful Deadication” band to include Was (Not Was) mate Luis Resto, percussionist Larry Fratangelo, keyboardist Maurice O'Neal and guitarist Wayne Gerard, and he led the ensemble through “way more than” the 10 songs that appear on the album. All — including “Estimated Prophet,” “Fire on the Mountain,” “Touch of Grey” (sung by Herschel Boone), “The Eleven” and “Franklin's Tower” — were adventures.
“I would go song by song,” McMurray explains. “I'd do one and say, ‘OK, I need a song to complement that one. I need a fast one here' or ‘I need a slow one here' and just kind of did that — for a couple of years, really.”
Of particular note is his rendition of “Loser,” which features Bettye LaVette on vocals and Weir on guitar. McMurray originally intended to be a showcase for the late Was (Not Was) singer Sweet Pea Atkinson, but switched gears after his death in May 2020.
“I couldn't think of another male like that to sing it, so I said, ‘Let's think about a woman,'” McMurray notes. Brainstorming led to LaVette, who McMurray says, “was the perfect one.”
“When she heard it she was like, ‘Where am I? Why me?' and I said, ‘Just listen to the lyric' and she was like, ‘Oh! I'm kind of like Calamity Jane here. I get it.' We didn't know what she was gonna do, but her vocal was incredible. There was so much passion in her voice.”
LaVette's presence, meanwhile, lured Weir and the other Wolf Bros. onto the track — the last one completed for the album, in fact.
“He was shocked when he heard her vocal,” McMurray recalls. “He loved Bettye before, but when he heard her vocal he was like, ‘Yeah!' and got into it.”
McMurray — who's already released “Loser” and “Franklin's Tower” as singles — is already feeling the embrace of the Deadheads for the album. “I started getting a whole new set of people, immediately, coming to my (social media),” he says. McMurray plans to court that audience with shows and festival appearances to support the album, and with plenty of extra material already recorded he says a second volume of “Grateful Deadication” is worth considering.
“I'm just getting ready to jump into that (Grateful Dead) world right now, trying to figure it out,” McMurray says. “There's a lot I'm hearing about, learning about. It's definitely a lifestyle along with the music. Their (fans) are serious, and I'm taking it seriously. The main thing is to be genuine with the music.”